Toward a Science of Consciousness 2011

TSC 2011: The 18th Toward a Science of Consciousness Conference
Brain, Mind and Reality
May 2-8, 2011
Stockholm University

Toward a Science of Consciousness is an interdisciplinary conference emphasizing broad and rigorous approaches to the study of conscious awareness. Topical areas include neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, biology, quantum physics, meditation and altered states, machine consciousness, culture and experiential phenomenology. Held annually since 1994, the conference is organized by the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona, and alternates yearly between Tucson, Arizona and various locations around the world. Toward a Science of Consciousness 2011 will be held at Stockholm University, Aula Magna Hall, Stockholm, Sweden, May 2-8, 2011.

Quantum biology: The role of quantum physics in consciousness has been
discounted by the assumption that the biological brain is too warm and wet.
But quantum coherence, entanglement and ballistic conductance have now been
recognized in warm photosynthesis, DNA and microtubules.
Anirban Bandyopadhyay, Tsukuba, Ballistic conductance in microtubulesJack Tuszynski, Alberta, Microtubule information processing capabilities

TBA

Consciousness, reality and the universe: Does the conscious observer collapse
the wave function? Is consciousness an emergent property of complex computation,
or irreducible and intrinsically related to spacetime geometry? How did the
universe arise from nothingness? What is entanglement?

Time, precognition and consciousness: The Libet experiments and
parapsychology have long suggested backward time referral of subjective
conscious experience of hundreds of milliseconds in the brain. Now such effects
are seen in mainstream neuroscience. Can they be explained through quantum
physics?

End-of-life brain activity: Recent clinical studies report a surge of
coherent, high frequency EEG at the time of human death, when neuronal
metabolic supplies are depleted. Historically, nearly all civilizations have
reported so-called near death experiences with remarkably consistent
phenomenology. Have brain monitors captured the correlate of near death
experiences?

In addition to Keynote and Plenary talks, the conference will featurePre-Conference Workshops, Concurrent Talks, Poster Sessions, Art/Tech
Demos, Social Events and Side Trips in the Stockholm tradition.

Special Pre-Conference Workshop – full day – Monday May 2, 2011Deepak Chopra, Vedic approaches to consciousness